Underground Crypto Market in Myanmar: How People Trade Bitcoin Despite the Ban

Myanmar’s government doesn’t allow cryptocurrency. Not even a little. The Central Bank of Myanmar banned all digital currency transactions in 2020, calling them illegal under foreign exchange laws. Anyone caught trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even stablecoins like USDT can face account freezes, fines, or jail time. But here’s the twist: people are still trading crypto-every day, in secret.

How Crypto Still Moves in a Country That Banned It

You won’t find a single licensed crypto exchange in Myanmar. No Binance office. No local wallet provider. No regulated platform. Yet, thousands of people are buying and selling Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether daily. How? Through shadows.

Traders use VPNs to access international platforms like Binance, but they don’t trade directly on them. Instead, they connect with cash dealers through Facebook groups and Telegram channels. These dealers act as middlemen-someone in Yangon buys Bitcoin from a trader in Thailand, pays cash in person, and the dealer sends the crypto from abroad. No bank accounts. No paper trail. Just trust.

Liquidity is thin. A small trade of $500 might go smoothly. But if someone tries to move $5,000 or more, prices swing wildly because there aren’t enough buyers or sellers. One dealer told a reporter, “I’ve seen Bitcoin jump 15% in two hours because one person tried to sell a big pile and nobody could match it.”

Mining? Also banned. The government has cracked down on rigs, seizing equipment and threatening fines. A few underground miners still run small setups in basements or back rooms, powered by stolen grid electricity or diesel generators. But it’s risky. One miner in Mandalay lost his entire rig after neighbors reported him to local police. He was never arrested, but he never mined again.

The Community That Keeps It Alive

The real engine behind Myanmar’s underground crypto scene isn’t technology-it’s people. The Myan Crypto Masters Community (MCM), started by a man known only as Feliz, has grown to over 23,000 members. It’s not a company. Not a business. Just a group of ordinary people teaching each other how to navigate a system that says they shouldn’t exist.

MCM runs weekly Zoom workshops in Burmese. They teach how to set up a VPN, how to spot a scam, how to use Telegram bots to track prices, and how to meet cash dealers safely. They don’t sell anything. No coins. No courses. Just knowledge. Feliz says, “Most people here don’t care about getting rich. They just want to send money to family overseas or protect their savings from inflation. Crypto is the only tool left.”

TikTok and Facebook are full of short videos explaining crypto basics in simple Burmese. One popular clip shows a woman using a flashlight to check her phone screen in the dark because the power went out-then she smiles and says, “At least my Bitcoin still works.”

Why This Market Is So Dangerous

There are no rules. No consumer protection. No way to sue someone who steals your money. That’s why scams are everywhere.

In 2022, a group called “Myanmar Digital Gold” promised 10% weekly returns on crypto investments. Thousands of people handed over cash. Some invested their life savings. Then, the operators vanished. No one was arrested. No money was recovered. The government didn’t investigate. Why? Because the whole thing was illegal to begin with.

Newcomers often get tricked. A common scam: someone sends you crypto, then claims they sent too much and asks you to return the extra. You send it back. They disappear. Or you pay cash for Bitcoin, and the dealer never sends the coins. No police report helps. No bank can reverse it. You’re on your own.

Even trusted dealers aren’t safe. One dealer in Naypyidaw was arrested after a customer reported him for “illegal currency exchange.” He spent six months in jail. When he got out, he started again. “I have two kids,” he said. “I can’t work a normal job. This is what I have.”

How It Compares to Neighboring Countries

Thailand lets you trade crypto legally. Laos has licensed exchanges. Vietnam has clear tax rules. In all those countries, people can use crypto without fearing arrest.

Myanmar is the outlier. The military government sees financial freedom as a threat. If people can move money without banks, they can fund opposition groups. That’s why the regime targets large traders and ignores small P2P deals. It’s not about stopping crypto-it’s about controlling who can use it.

As a result, many Myanmar miners moved to Thailand and Laos. Energy demand there went up. Some local businesses in northern Thailand now run crypto mining farms legally, using cheap hydropower. Meanwhile, Myanmar’s grid gets weaker, and its people get poorer.

The Political Side: Crypto as Resistance

The National Unity Government (NUG)-the shadow government formed by elected officials after the 2021 coup-created the Spring Development Bank on the Polygon blockchain. It’s not a bank in the traditional sense. It’s a digital wallet system that lets diaspora communities send money to resistance fighters inside Myanmar.

It uses USDT as its backbone. People overseas buy USDT, send it to a wallet address, and someone inside Myanmar cashes it out through a trusted dealer. The money pays for food, medicine, and even underground schools. It’s financial resistance.

The military regime calls it “terrorist financing.” But for many inside Myanmar, it’s survival.

What’s Next?

There’s no sign the government will lift the ban. The military has no interest in financial innovation. They want control. And as long as they hold power, crypto will stay underground.

But the market isn’t shrinking. It’s growing. More people are learning. More dealers are emerging. More young people are using crypto to send remittances, avoid inflation, and bypass a broken banking system.

The next big question isn’t whether crypto will survive in Myanmar. It’s whether the world will notice when it does. Right now, it’s invisible to regulators. But if millions of people are using it to live, eventually someone will have to answer: Do you ban a lifeline?

What You Need to Know If You’re in Myanmar

If you’re thinking about joining the underground crypto scene, here’s what you need to remember:

• Never use your real name on Facebook or Telegram groups. Use a pseudonym.
• Always use a trusted VPN like ExpressVPN or NordVPN. Free ones log your data.
• Meet cash dealers in public places-coffee shops, markets. Never at home.
• Start small. Test with $20 before risking more.
• Never trust anyone promising high returns. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
• Keep your device secure. Use a separate phone for crypto. Don’t store private keys on cloud backups.

Why This Matters Beyond Myanmar

Myanmar’s crypto scene isn’t just about money. It’s about what happens when a government tries to control something that doesn’t need permission to exist.

In China, the ban pushed crypto underground-but it didn’t kill it. In Nigeria, restrictions led to massive P2P trading. In Venezuela, crypto became a lifeline. Myanmar is following the same pattern: when people are cut off from the system, they build their own.

This isn’t just a story about Bitcoin. It’s about human resilience. About people finding ways to survive when the rules are stacked against them.

The government can ban crypto. But they can’t ban the need to send money home. They can’t ban the fear of inflation. They can’t ban the desire for freedom.

And as long as those things exist, so will the underground market.